Esther and Yehuda Wachsman, parents of soldier Nachshon Wachsman who
was kidnapped in 1994 by Hamas terrorists and killed during a failed
rescue attempt, have sent a letter to President Shimon Peres in which
they request that Peres ask the U.S. to release Jonathan Pollard.

Esther Wachsman told Arutz Sheva on Tuesday that she and her husband
sent the letter because they feel it is their responsibility to
ensure that this opportunity to rescue Pollard is not missed.

“President Shimon Peres is about to receive the Medal of Freedom from
President Obama, and we want to mention that Jonathan Pollard has had
no freedom for 27 years,” she said. “He confessed and expressed
remorse, and it is time that our brother Jonathan is freed and comes
to the State of Israel.”

Esther Wachsman, who as a bereaved mother agreed to see her son’s
killer being released in exchange for Gilad Shalit, said that she
expects Obama to behave in a humanitarian manner.

“We do not compare what happened to our son with what is happening to
Pollard,” she stressed. “America is not Hamas, but the Americans take
pride in being a humanitarian country, so it’s time to release
Pollard, after 27 years he deserves it. His offenses were not any
more serious than those made by others who have been freed long ago.”

Wachsman added, “I agreed, as a bereaved mother, to release my son´s
murderer for humanitarian reasons. I wished that he would rot in jail
for the rest of his life. But as a mother who never got her son back,
I supported a mother who was able to get her son back.”

The Wachsmans are part of a group of bereaved families who watched as
Israel released their loved ones’ murderers in exchange for Shalit,
and who have implored Peres to exert himself in seeking Pollard´s
freedom.

“The price we paid requires us to act to save his life,” the families
wrote to Peres. “In recent years we have found ourselves on opposite
sides of the terrible situation that rips the public to pieces, but
we can come together for this great cause.”

“As those who have paid a personal and terrible price for building
Israel,” they wrote, “we understand how priceless it is for us to
save lives ourselves. We feel obligated to pursue the sacred duty to
save a life, which would be realized in the case of Jonathan Pollard.”

Peres, who pressed Obama to release Pollard in person when the two
Presidents met in March and again in April by phone when Pollard was
moved to a prison hospital ward, has already agreed to ask for
Pollard´s release again in June.